User:Frigoris/Pāṇini reincarnated

A Buddhist folk tale from Gandhara (in Chinese) about the legacy of Pāṇini, collect by Xuanzang in his travelogues. (The link is to the beginning of the paragraph). Xuanzang said Pāṇini was born in the town 婆羅覩邏 (MC ba la tuX laH), thought to be a misprint of 娑羅覩邏 (MC sa la tuX laH) or even 沙羅覩邏 (MC srae la tuX laH), identified with शलातुर (śalātura) Salatura. He was called 波爾尼 (MC pa nyeX nrij)仙, literally Pāṇini the Saint or Pāṇini the Immortal; i.e. ऋषि (ṛṣi). His work was called 《聲明論》, "Treatise Elucidating Speech", i.e. शब्दविद्या (śabdavidyā). He lived in the era when humans' natural longevity was up to 100 years.

烏鐸迦漢荼城西北行二十餘里，至婆羅覩邏邑，是製《聲明論》波爾尼仙本生處也。

More than 20 li northwest from the city of 烏鐸迦漢荼 (MC 'u dak kae xanH drae), उदकहण्ड (udakahaṇḍa)? MW has हण्डिका (haṇḍikā, “earthen pot”), कूलहण्ड (kūlahaṇḍa) = कूलतण्डुल (kūlataṇḍula, “breakers, surges (as in waves)”), we arrive at the town *Śalātura, the birthplace of Saint Pāṇini, creator of the Śabdavidyā.

遂古之初，文字繁廣，時經劫壞，世界空虛， 長壽諸天，降靈道俗，由是之故，文籍生焉。 自時厥後，其源泛濫。梵王、天帝作則隨時， 異道諸仙各製文字，人相祖述，競習所傳，學 者虛功，難用詳究。

In the beginning, there had been a proliferation of scripts and literature. After the destructions by the end of the last kalpa, the world became empty. Then the spirits of the long-living devas descended to guide the human culture. From this, literature came into being again. Since that time, that ancient fountainhead has overflown. Lord Brahma and Śakra King of the Devas followed the obligations of the time by showing them the exemplars (??), and each of the diverse schools and their rishis created the language (lit. "scripts") of their own. These teachings are passed from fathers to sons, and people exercised great vigour in study the received scriptures. The scholars toiled in vain, unable to bring clarity to their scholarship amid this confusion of tongues.

人壽百歲之時，有波爾尼仙，生知博物， 愍時澆薄，欲削浮偽，刪定繁猥，遊方問道， 遇自在天，遂申述作之志。自在天曰： 「盛矣哉！吾當祐汝。」仙人受教而退， 於是研精覃思，採摭群言，作為字書， 備有千頌，頌三十二言矣。究極今古， 總括文言。封以進上，王甚珍異，下令國中， 普使傳習，有誦通利，賞千金錢。所以師資傳授， 盛行當世。故此邑中諸婆羅門，碩學高才， 博物強識。

By the time when humans lived naturally to 100 years, there was this Saint Pāṇini पाणिनि (pāṇini), who was born with encyclopaedic knowledge. Taking pity of the vain and little-minded cultures of his time, he wished to eliminate the vain, the false, the convoluted, and the base. Travelling widely, he sought after religious teachings. One day, he met the ईश्वर (īśvara) (i.e. Maheśvara, Shiva), and expressed his goals to Him. "Great! I shall grant My boons upon you," said the Īśvara. The Saint paid his obeisance to Him and departed. After that, he studied with great acuity, contemplated without slack, collected materials from diverse languages, and created the "book of words", i.e. the अष्टाध्यायी (aṣṭādhyāyī). In its complete form, there were thousands of shlokas in the meter of thirty-two, i.e. अनुष्टुभ् (anuṣṭubh), Anuṣṭubh. In this book he exhausted (the wisdom) of the present and the ancient eras and summarized the entirety of the refined language (i.e. Sanskrit). He presented the final, sealed work to the king, who greatly treasured the book and decreed that it should be widely disseminated and taught throughout the kingdom. Those who could recite it fluently would receive the reward of a thousand gold coins. Therefore, the book was taught by instructors and became popular in the time. For this reason, the brahmana in this town have since become renowned for their scholarship, intelligence, knowledge, and memory.

婆羅覩邏邑中有窣堵波，羅漢化波爾尼仙 後進之處。如來去世，垂五百年，有大阿羅 漢自迦濕彌羅國遊化至此，乃見梵志捶 訓稚童。時阿羅漢謂梵志曰：「何苦此兒？」梵 志曰：「令學《聲明論》，業不時進。」阿羅漢逌爾 而笑。老梵志曰：「夫沙門者，慈悲為情，愍傷物 類。仁今所笑，願聞其說。」

In this town, *Śalātura, there was a stupa commemorating the place where an arhat converted a young reincarnation of Saint Pāṇini. Five hundred years after the Tathāgata's death, there was a great arhat from कश्यपमीर (kaśyapamīra, “Kashmir”) on his mission to spread Buddhism. Upon entering this town, he saw a religious man flogging a young son. "Why are you torturing this child?" asked the arhat. "I made him study the Śabdavidyā, said the religious man, "but he's not making the timely progress he ought achieve." Hearing this, the arhat burst out in laughter. "I heard that a श्रमण (śramaṇa) is kind in his heart and is full of compassion for all beings. Yet you laugh at us! Will you explain yourself?" demanded the brahmana.

阿羅漢曰：「談不容易，恐致深疑。汝頗甞聞波爾尼仙製 《聲明論》，垂訓於世乎？」婆羅門曰：「此邑之子，後進 仰德，像設猶在。」阿羅漢曰：「今汝此子，即是彼 仙。猶以強識，翫習世典，唯談異論，不究 真理。神智唐捐，流轉未息，尚乘餘善，為 汝愛子。然則世典文辭，徒疲功績；豈若如 來聖教，福智冥滋？

"Words, once spoken, cannot be changed, so bear with me when I speak carefully, lest I deepen your suspicion. Have you heard about Pāṇini the Saint, who bestowed upon the posteriority his instruction, the Śabdavidyā?" asked the arhat. "The sons of this town greatly revere his virtue, and his icon (a portrait or statue) is still here to this day," answered the brahmana.

"Now this son of yours is that Saint, the memorious one, the one fully versed in the classics of the world. However, he spoke only of heretic teachings and did not study the true way. Because of the way he wasted his great intelligence, he has been subjected to the cycle of rebirths, again and again, in the संसार (saṃsāra). Thanks to the virtuous deeds during his past lives, he was reborn as this beloved son of yours. Now, have you seen that the classics of the world and the refined speech only exhausts one's merits? How can this be compared with the holy teachings of the Tathāgata, the blessing upon the mind, the invisible nutrition?

「曩者南海之濱有一枯樹，五百蝙蝠於中穴居。 有諸商侶止此樹下，時屬風寒，人皆飢凍， 聚積樵蘇，蘊火其下，煙焰漸熾，枯樹遂燃。 時商侶中有一賈客，夜分已後，誦《阿毘達磨藏》。 彼諸蝙蝠雖為火困，愛好法音，忍而不去，於此命終。 隨業受生，俱得人身，捨家修學，乘聞法聲， 聰明利智，並證聖果，為世福田。近迦膩色 迦王與脇尊者招集五百賢聖，於迦濕 彌羅國作《毘婆沙論》，斯並枯樹之中五百蝙 蝠也。余雖不肖，是其一數。

"Once upon a time, by the shores of the South Sea, there was a dead tree, in whose empty trunk lived five hundred bats. One day, a group of travelling traders stopped by the tree on a chilly and windy day. Cold and hungry, they collected firewood and made a fire under the dead tree. As the fire spread, the tree was set alight. That was late in the night, when one of the traders began to recite from the अभिधर्मपिटक (abhidharmapiṭaka), Abhidharma. Though trapped in by the fire, the bats, out of their love for the voice of the dharma, couldn't bear to leave, and they all died there.

"As karma worked its way, the five hundred bats were reborn as humans. These humans all went homeless (to become renunciants) and studied in monasteries. There closeness to the dharma greatly benefited their minds, and all of them achieved the fruit of arhathood to become a blessing upon the world. Lately, King Κανηϸκι (Kanēški) and Elder पार्श्व (pārśva) assembled five hundred able and wise men, who composed the विभाषा (vibhāṣā) (Mahāvibhāṣā) in Kaśyapamīra. Every single one of them used to be one of the five hundred bats in that dead tree. Mediocre as I am, I happen to be one of them.

「斯則優劣良異，飛伏懸殊。仁今愛子， 可許出家；出家功德，言不能述。」 時阿羅漢說此語已，示神通事，因忽不現。 婆羅門深生敬異，歎善久之，具告隣里， 遂放其子出家修學，因即迴信，崇重三寶， 鄉人從化，於今彌篤。

"Now, it is clear for you to see which fate is the better and more exalted one. O kind man! If you love your son, you'd let go of him and allow him to go forth. The virtues of the ascetic life cannot be described in words." Having said this, the arhat disappeared by his ऋद्धि (ṛddhi, “supernatural”) power.

Awe-struck, the brahmana was speechless except the exclamations of praise. He spread the news in his neighbourhood, allowed his son to join a monastery, and took refuge in the त्रिरत्न (triratna, “Triple Gem”). His compatriots also followed the teaching, and their reverence is ever the greater to this day.